No alternative to Buhari – MBO Coordinator

Hon. Ibrahim Usman is the National Coordinator of Muhammadu Buhari/Osinbajo Dynamic Support Group (MBO). In this interview, he speaks on President Buhari’s chances as campaigns by many presidential aspirants begin in earnest. Excerpt:

Your organisation recently launched ‘Operation 40 million votes’ for President Muhammadu Buhari in the coming 2019 presidential election. How would you achieve this considering allegations that the president did not deliver on the promises he made in 2015, don’t you think you are bargaining more than you can chew?

We have agreed that each person would canvass for four voters, but they said each person should canvass for 40 votes. If you multiply this by the 2.7 volunteer persons, it is certainly even above 40 million. Since we are determined to have free and fair elections, the 40 million figure is the winning number.

Opposition against Buhari has never been fiercer than we are having now and coupled with the fact that in previous elections he never made half of that figure, how far can you go on this target?

We are not asking for money from anybody. You saw our retreat on Saturday, Nov 17. These are just thousands of volunteers who personally took care of their individual logistics. If people of this number from across the country will come, how much more of the volunteers whose polling units are at the front of their houses. We do not want money bag politics. We need to elect the real leaders who would not steal the nation’s resources.

If you elect people because they give you money, they would come and recoup the money they invested in the election. That is what we are running away from. Nigerians are good people; they want things done in the right way, so the question of money is not the right thing.

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parties were at your last retreat to collaborate with you, what exactly are you working on?

They are like minds. They discovered that they cannot make it on their own, so they decided to come and support the right person.

The president’s party, APC is still crisis-ridden - governors taking on the National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole and serious squabbles in states believed to be Buhari’s strongholds, all happening some four months to election. How comfortable are you with this to continue with the campaign?

Our group is there on ground, that is one; two, good Nigerians are also there. The party, the governors, if they are sincere, let their votes count. But Nigerians can be independent and do the right thing, so we are not afraid of that. Whether there are governors or not, we do not give a damn.

Some of Buhari’s achievements such as tackling insecurity and anti-corruption fight have been heavily criticised, what is your reaction to this?

A lot of people do not know the meaning of Boko Haram. This is a sect and as long as there is religion, Boko Haram would still be there. It has nothing to do with Buhari, but he has arrested the situation to the barest minimum, he has done his best. And he is still on it. It is a situation of mindset, it is an international phenomenon.

He found the situation this way, and it is not a thing that you deal with once and for all, it has to be through a gradual process. It is an ideology; these people believe they have to kill before they can gain salvation. it is very difficult to understand. I don’t know anything about their sponsor. We pray to Allah that it will end.